The present invention relates to electronic safety ski bindings. A safety ski binding is attached to a ski and, in turn, releasably grips a ski boot worn by a skier. The safety feature is activated to release the ski boot, during skiing, when skiing-induced forces exerted on a skier's leg reach a level that endangers the well-being of the skier. Mechanical sensing of the skiing forces and activation of the release mechanism of a safety ski binding are well known. More recently, electronic means have been disclosed for sensing the skiing forces, producing electrical signals corresponding to the forces and electronically processing the signals to make a determination as whether binding release is appropriate. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,894 issued Sept. 29, 1981 to D'Antonio and Bates.
The transducers used in electronic ski bindings to sense forces and to generate electrical force signals in response, detect all skiing forces that result in an application of stress to them. The object of including the transducers in the binding is to detect only the forces applied to the leg of a skier using the binding to determine whether the safety of the skier is threatened. If the electrical force signals exceed a predetermined threshold, indicating a threat to the skier, an electrical release signal is generated causing the binding to release.
Transducers are positioned in a ski binding to measure longitudinal and vertical forces, i.e., forces along the length of the ski and perpendicular to it, respectively. This positioning limits flexibility in designing a binding. Therefore it is desirable to provide other transducer mountings to increase the number of design alternatives for electronic bindings.
To the extent force signals are generated in response to forces which do not threaten the skier, erroneous indications are produced and the binding may release prematurely. The forces which a skier may tolerate depend upon whether he is standing straight or leaning forwards or backwards. When a skier leans, particularly backward, large forces may be detected, but the skier can tolerate more force safely. Leaning also causes flexing of the ski. Unless the stress induced by ski flexing is relieved, the transducers detect it as a force applied to the skier's leg. If the threshold for generation of a release signal is fixed, then a skier who is leaning may cause a binding to release when there is no threat to his safety. Therefore, it is desirable to vary the release threshold in response to leaning by a skier.